


White High, Sky High

by ladywrangler



Category: Nogizaka46 (Band)
Genre: F/F, Racing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-13 14:23:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20583953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladywrangler/pseuds/ladywrangler
Summary: Hot-headed speed junkie Shiraishi Mai makes her return back into the world of racing, encountering past rivals, broken promises and a shot to a new life.





	1. Winning Streak

A white flag blows strongly against the wind, signalling the final lap of the track. Screams and cheers come from the crowds of people sitting on the bleachers, shouting out the names of their favorite teams in support.

_White High! White High! White HIGH!!!_

_Cinq! Etoiles! Cinq! Etolies!_

_Rewind!!! Beat! OUT! White High!!!_

_NOGIDAN! LET’S GOOO!!!_

With her right hand on the clutch, Shiraishi Mai easily shifts into turbo mode, foot pressing hard on the gas pedal as she sees the road ahead of her is a straight road and right into a forty-five degree road curve, where she throws the shift back and maneuvers the car into a drifting sequence. The track is almost like a part of her body–every nook and cranny of the road is embedded into her mind, minimizing the chances of errors to almost _none_.

_“Annnd White High’s Shiraishi is now approaching the finishing line with 0.5 seconds left on the clock–will she break the previous record of all times, set by Rewind Ano Hi’s Hashimoto?!”_

Shiraishi knows that she must make it–_no matter what_. It’s always been her goal–to become the fastest racer in Japan. She presses on the breaks then back on the pedal, shifts the gear into acceleration, and roars straight towards the end of another race.

_VRRRROOOOOOMMMM!!!_

The tires of her race car with the number 20 sprawled on the hood, screeches to a stop at White High’s station, back to where her whole team is waiting for her. She doesn’t bat an eye at the crowd of reporters swarming around her car, impatiently waiting for a chance to quickly interview her.

The emcee of the event approaches her as she managed to step a foot out, and dusted her hands before pulling off her helmet and turned her head around to face the reporters.

“Shiraishi-san, congratulations on winning the Racing Competition in Gunma _and_ breaking the previous record held by Hashimoto-san!”

“Shiraishi-san, you’re a huge role model to all female racers in Japan and overseas. How are you feeling right now?!”

“Did the turbocharger for _White High_ perform as it was expected?!”

“Shiraishi-san! Were you forced back into racing for Team _White High_ after Fukagawa-san’s death–”

Shiraishi clenches her jaw–it was all the same, reporters trying to elicit anger from her to put on the front page of their newspapers. However, the insensible topic on top of the incoming wave of questions was enough to piss her off at that moment.

“Shut _up_!” Shiraishi yells as she pushes her way out of the reporters’ barricade and bombardment of questions. “I don’t want to see any of you pigs.”

The reporters began to back off upon seeing her familiar anger–she was hot-headed as always, unable to control her temper at times when she was pushed into a corner with no where to go.

Shiraishi took the chance to walk on ahead to the podium and claim her cash prize, picking up the trophy to pose before handing it off to one of the promotional models standing nearby.

Shiraishi loved racing. Ever since she was a little girl, she always wanted to become the number one racer in Japan. She loved the rush of adrenaline pumped into her head–it flowed like the blood in her veins as she faced the endless possibilities of the future ahead of her. You could say, it was what made her feel alive, in the rawest form of her purpose to exist in this world of racing and hell–name any road and she’s already driven off–she’s ready to take on the highway to hell too.

She brushed aside a few reporters and continued to walk past them, towards her teammates–the power brains behind the turbo engine that made them reach the top. Couldn’t the reporters turn their attention to them, instead of just her?

“Shiraishi-san! We need you to, _um_–come back to the podium for a brief interview.” The emcee nervously asked as he had been trying to keep up with Shiraishi’s hot tempered attitude for the past few minutes.

Shiraishi scoffed before she turned back, fully aware that the emcee was actually pleading for the sake of their sponsors, who were expecting her to promote their stuff. She picked up a Sports drink cap from the promotional model and pulled it over her head, while the model quickly fixed it before the emcee could continue.

“Thank you, Shiraishi-san, aha…” He nervously glanced at the brunette, who glared at him before he turned back with a small whimper like a scared puppy.

“Ouch!”

Shiraishi ignored the female reporter who she had pushed aside with her shoulder as she was forced to return to the podium to give a quick word as she was the winner of the Racing competition hosted in Gunma–her hometown.

She hated how she had become stoic and desensitized to her surroundings, especially after the death of Fukagawa Mai, her role model and the very person who introduced her into the world of racing.

_What the hell do any of these reporters or sponsors know, anyway?_

“Shiraishi-san, would you like to share any final words for your win?”

“Shiraishi-san, it’s your 4th championship victory _and _come back after three years. What brought you back into the racing world?”

All Shiraishi sees are the faces of the press reporters, blurring her vision as she gripped the microphone that was handed to her by the emcee.

The only thing that continues to ring in her ears, is the endless voices calling for her name.

_Shiraishi-san. Shiraishi-san. Shiraishi-san._

She’s about to fling the microphone at the reporters and leave when she suddenly felt someone wrap their hand around her wrist to stop her from moving. She turns to see from the corner of her eyes and notices that it’s the second placer–_Hashimoto Nanami_.

“Careful, I wouldn’t want to piss off the press like last time.” Hashimoto smirks, quickly letting go of her wrist at the sight of the older woman glaring at her and proceeded to pat her on the shoulder instead.

The cameras flashed multiple times for that very moment before the shorter haired woman retreated her hand and held up a bottle of champagne in the air that had been opened just seconds ago.

“It was a close race. Let’s celebrate your win, shall we?”

“Go celebrate by yourself, you clown.”

Shiraishi mutters just loud enough for Hashimoto to hear before she forcefully stowed the microphone into the flustered emcee’s hands and stepped off the podium. It was the final straw, for her to get back to White High’s tent.

-

“Misa, Sayuri and Kaz–meet me at the base, I don’t feel satisfied with today’s win.” Shiraishi said almost at once, as she approached their temporary station with her arms crossed to gesture that she meant business.

“Aye, Captain!”

The team volunteer, Matsumura Sayuri gives a quick salute as she’s already on the go, wanting to test out their turbocharger after the race to oversee its’ current operating conditions.

Takayama Kazumi who was White High’s back up mechanic, grins widely before slinging her arm over Shiraishi’s shoulder and dragged her towards the rest of the team.

“Aww, come on Maiyan! We wanna pop some bottles too!”

The brunette rolls her eyes as she pulls off the sponsor cap and stows it into Takayama’s hand, “Here–no drinking! Only working today!”

“Damn, what a bummer.”

Takayama gives a pout as the others were already packing up–the competition was over now and they were given two hours at most to pack up their stuff and get out before the next event was to be hosted tomorrow.

“Excuse me, Shiraishi-san–”

Shiraishi hears the sound of someone calling her name from afar when she’s about to get into her Yellow Honda S2K, irritated from the sound of another reporter chasing after her.

“–I’d like to do a brief interview with you!”

“Contact my team manager.” Shiraishi’s snarky response doesn’t go unheard by Eto Misa, White High’s best technician.

“Hey Maiyan, it doesn’t hurt to answer some questions, does it?” Eto smiles as Shiraishi scowls at the sight of her best friend of ten years.

“I don’t feel like it.”

“Don’t be childish. It’s been many years, I’m sure your fans want to hear something from you and what you’ve been up to.”

Eto turns to the reporter who furrowed her brows at the sight of Shiraishi standing next to her S2K, waiting for the reporter to ask her anything that wasn’t out of line, like earlier.

“Fine. You over there,” Shiraishi called out to the reporter, “What do you want to say?” She huffed at the sight of the reporter ignoring what she had just said.

“Erm…thank you, Eto-san!”

Shiraishi arches her brow at the sight of the reporter thanking Eto instead of her for the opportunity to interview her.

“Why don’t you interview Eto instead?” She replies in annoyance, to which the reporter flashes a glare at her–but the brunette missed it as she turned her head facing the other way as a means of pettiness.

“I would love to interview her, but my boss wants one with _you_ instead.”

Eto grinned from ear to ear, whistling as she held up a crescent wrench and pointed it at Shiraishi.

“Did you hear that, Maiyan? Reporter Nishino doesn’t seem to be fond of you.” She twirled it before turning her attention back to the reporter.

Shiraishi rolled her eyes as she turned to the woman, eyeing the name card tag dangling at her neck.

_Nishino Nanase._

She let out a sigh in defeat as she pointed to her S2K with her thumb, “Get into my car. This isn’t a good place to interview me, so let’s do it at some cafe nearby.”

Nishino scrunches her nose at the suggestion. “I’d like some photos inside White High’s shop operations instead. Could we conduct the interview there instead?”

Shiraishi scowled at the suggestion, thinking that the reporter had so much to say about her instead of being grateful about the opportunity to interview her rather.

“Fine. Let’s go there instead.” Shiraishi openly taps her shoe repeatedly to show her irritation with the woman.

_This woman is getting on my nerves._

Nishino ignores the childish fits that Shiraishi was displaying towards her, knowing now that the famed female racer was just an overgrown, short-tempered baby throwing a tantrum after her career hiatus.

She hopes that it’ll be the last time that her boss nags her for an interview with White High’s Shiraishi Mai.

“Hurry up, I don’t have all day.” Shiraishi says as she gets into her S2K, before turning on her engine.

She wanted to get over it and head back to White High’s motor shop so that she could test the engine’s turbo power with a dynamometer, adjust the suspensions and balancing the air and fuel intake–in short, more experimenting after the race.

However, deep down she wanted to drive anywhere, any place that let her mind feel at peace after the competition to cool off for a bit.

“I’ll drive in my car, thank you.” Nishino curtly replies before turning away towards her car nearby, which happened to be a typical Mini Cooper.

Shiraishi rolls down the windows as she drives slowly along-side the reporter, keeping an eye on her.

“Don’t you want to at least experience my driving?” Shiraishi arrogantly asks, though it sounds more of a demand and quickly adds, “Besides, I’ll drive so fast that you can’t keep up. Get in the shotgun.”

“No thanks.” Nishino arches a brow, surprising Shiraishi as she gets into her car, and revs up her engine.

_Vrroom. VRRROOOOOM!_

Shiraishi raised a brow in amusement before doing the same, starting up her engine with a roar loud enough to rival the other woman’s by amplifying the sound of her exhaust.

_VROOM. VRRROOOOOM!_

Shiraishi noticed the smirk coming from the other woman then–it was clear that the reporter had more to show under the guise of a Mini Cooper.

“Alright, bring it on Miss Feisty Reporter.” Shiraishi mutters to herself, putting on her Ray Bans as she was slightly interested in the reporter’s sudden attitude change, before adjusting her gearshift and set off.

Right before she does so, she notices the reporter’s window rolling down, followed by an arm which popped out to gesture her something.

_Follow me, _Nishino motioned then retreated her arm to roll up her windows.

“Oh? Show me what you’ve got under that roof, little _girl_.”

A grin etched widely at the corner of Shiraishi’s mouth but before she’d even realize it, Nishino’s Cooper already took off–leaving her in the dust.

_Vrooom. Vrrooom–VROOOOOM!!!_

Shiraishi’s ears perked at the sound of Nishino’s car as she approached hers, quickly tailing behind her closely. What a beast of an exhaust that she had, the brunette noticed–perhaps she had a boosted turbocharger in the hood of her car.

“What’s that sound…” Shiraishi furrowed her brows as she couldn’t tell how Nishino’s car was able to release large quantities of horsepower in short time.

_Does she have twin turbocharger? Is it a V8?_

Compared to a single turbocharger–twin turbos contain four cylinders in a v-shape–powered by the flow of compressed air and fuel, it spins a compressor which forces that air into the car engine’s intake system much faster into a single cylinder and cuts out the lag–the ignition time that it takes for your car to move. Imagine a V8–with eight cylinders instead, small and compact, sufficient enough to fit in your car to balance out all that spinning and shaking happening at once.

Shiraishi was definitely getting a kick out of this, the odds of finding someone challenging her, was extremely rare–especially coming from other women.

Nishino was reaching a road curve to which she drifted smoothly before straightening her car wheels to pick up speed right away as Shiraishi had just turned the corner, the tires letting out a high-pitched screech as she straightened out her wheels after at the road ahead.

_Skreeeecch!_

“Fuck! I’ll catch up in no time–”

Shiraishi grabs her clutch and shifts it to accelerate, picking up speed when she realized from the corner of her eye–a truck nearby was approaching Nishino’s car quickly–her eyes widened at that very moment.

_Oh shit–we’ll crash into each other!_

With her quick reflexes, she quickly shifted her foot from the gas pedal to the brakes and pressed down gradually to slow down her S2K from colliding into the back of Nishino’s car.

“Fuck!” She cursed as the mini car still went on instead of stopping. Nishino was asking for a death wish–her hands clenched tightly against the steering wheel, bracing for the incoming crash.

“WATCH OUT–”

But Nishino had defied her expectations–her car easily maneuvered around the truck at that moment thankfully to its’ small size, while Shiraishi was about to edge closer to the space that Nishino was previously at seconds ago.

“…What the fuck was _that_?”

Nishino was no ordinary reporter, she knew now as she picked up her speed to tailgate the younger woman to their destination.

-

“Who are you? You’re not just a reporter,” Shiraishi says once she gets out of her car after parking it while Nishino was waiting for her to open the garage to White High’s base.

“I _am_ a reporter,” Nishino mysteriously smiled as she entered the garage to see rows of mufflers, radiators, transmissions, brakes–all sorts of various car parts lining up against the walls and shelves along with mechanical tools scattered around White High’s workshop station.

“Cut the bullshit. You could’ve died if you didn’t curve around that truck in time.”

Shiraishi crossed her arms as Nishino walked up to her with another innocent smile–the brunette couldn’t see through her at all.

“I’m really an average reporter, nothing else.”

“Whatever you say. You’ll regret saying that if I find out anything about you after this.” Shiraishi grumbles, still slightly skeptical before pulling out a tall stool to sit on, waiting for the reporter to sit down across her.

_Is she a spy or something?_

“Let’s get this interview done and over with.”

Nishino arched a brow, “What’s with the rush? I’m sure you have no races coming up for the next few weeks.”

“That doesn’t mean I should slack off when I’ve just came back from a three year hiatus.” Shiraishi sighed, her elbow propped up against the table as she watched Nishino walk around their workshop, clearing admiring the polished compartments of their old and outdated engines.

“Why did you stop for three years? You had such a prominent career record going for you.”

Shiraishi sighed as she looked at Nishino with a blank stare.

“It should be obvious, right? Fukagawa’s death.”

“And that made you quit racing altogether for those missing years. Do you think Fukagawa-san would be happy to know that you stopped racing for a period of time?”

“I doubt it. I’m back now, so let’s move on from that.” Shiraishi wasn’t willing to say anymore, feeling her guts reeling in at the thought of the past that she tried to erase from mind.

_The never ending flow of crimson blood stained on her racing uniform at that time._

Nishino sighed as she leaned on her arm, scribbling out notes on her pad.

“What did you do during your three year gap?”

“…I didn’t want to drive for a while. It took months of convincing from White High’s core members to make me even touch the steering wheel.” Shiraishi fiddled with her car keys, “Inside the car, I realized then that it was unfair to stop driving after that incident. I knew I couldn’t drive–because deep down, all I was reminded of, was Fukagawa’s face.”

Nishino’s expression darkened as she continued to take notes, “And when was it, that you became driven to start practicing and working with your teammates again?”

“It took almost a year to get back into it. But I didn’t want to race. I wanted to find a reason for racing, sure I’ve won so many times–but that was because I was always chasing after Fukagawa. Even now, I do. But it’s difficult to find stable ground in the racing world, where faces come and go.”

“You’ve won your first race after all this time. Are you particularly happy about it?” Nishino’s voice added a hint of irritation, as if she already knew the answer but asked anyways for full clarity.

“I am.” Shiraishi paused, to which surprised Nishino a little as she wasn’t obvious about it after her hot-tempered attitude earlier.

“It’s difficult to celebrate when the media is always expecting something from you. All I want to do…is just be the fastest person in Japan. I don’t want to talk about anything. It’s too painful to say anything when someone is longer around after all these years.”

Nishino slowly nodded before closing her notes, “Okay, that’s it! I won’t pry any further.”

“Hold on–” Shiraishi jumped onto her feet as she quickly got around to Nishino’s side to stop her from walking away.

“I answered questions for you. Now you have to do the same for me–”

“Sorry,” Nishino brushed past her as she had a camera in hand, “I only agreed to interview you, not the other way around.”

Nishino got up to take photos of White High's interior, including the woman herself, who was used to being photographed as a model in the past.

“…Fine,” Shiraishi looked away as she reluctantly stepped away from Nishino to clasp her hands together as if she was done intervening with the younger girl.

“Answer this instead–Who do you work for?”

Nishino had yet to say another word as she continued to concentrate on taking photos.

"Osaka News. See you then, Shiraishi-san." The Osaka-based reporter smiled before leaving Shiraishi standing there silently to herself, stuck in deep thoughts as she clenched her fists tightly.

_Nishino Nanase._

_-_

It was a few days later, that Shiraishi had finally found something on the reporter–as Matsumura was from Osaka, she managed to get the brunette a copy of the newspapers as she asked.

Shiraishi furrowed her brows–the younger woman was indeed a reporter, but the information about her as a racer was unknown. She flipped the newspaper that Nishino wrote on–it was word-for-word that she had put up on the column that read, ‘_White High’s Shiraishi Mai’s Return in Flashy Fashion’._

Shiraishi scoffed at the title before her eyes. Nishino definitely didn’t see her in a positive light–the title was basically a diss to her.

"Really? There's nothing on this girl. What the hell is she doing, working at some news station?" Shiraishi spun a pen on her fingers, unable to decode anything on the papers as she circled Nishino’s name under the column. “No email, no social media contact, no nothing!“

"I should've asked for her business card. It's her job to if she wants future interviews!" Shiraishi mumbled to herself.

"Annoying," Eto said as she walked past Shiraishi's chair to grab a cup of coffee, "You missed your chance. But here, catch!"

Shiraishi arched a brow as she suddenly found something thrown at her and caught it–it was Nishino’s business card.

"What the hell, you had her card the whole time and couldn't give it to me before?"

"She gave it to me, not you. I don't think she's coming back to interview you again, because she was totally looking at you like you were crap under her feet."

Insulted, Shiraishi slammed her palms on the desk, “W-What? I had a interview with her and all, then she goes bye-bye?! Not to mention,” Shiraishi pointed to herself, “–with _this _face?!” She was beyond enraged.

Shiraishi grabbed her leather jacket and pulled on a sleeve when Eto chuckled at the sight of the older woman acting furiously under her hot-tempered fury.

“Relax, I'm sure she'll come around soon as a non-reporter.“

Shiraishi stopped in her footsteps as she turned to face Eto with a confused look. “Huh? She's...not working there anymore?”

Eto looked at her smugly. “Nope, thanks to a little bird, I found out that she's working for another team now.”

“Team?”

“Yeah. She's apparently the newbie that's going to take over Rewind Ano Hi.”

“...You've gotta be kidding me,” Shiraishi slumped down on her chair and leaned back, covering her face with both hands. The scenario of Nishino’s car edging around the truck from the other day was replaying in her mind like a broken recorder.

“This is just unbelievable.”

“What about her? You've been crazy about her ever since you won the championship a few days ago.” Eto crossed her arms as she tried to figure out what was going on with the brunette, who had been talking about nothing but Nishino all day, the day before and before that.

_Nishino, Nishino, Nishino._

“What's with_ you_, exactly?"

"Okay, hear me out," Shiraishi sat up straight as she watched Eto grab a stool nearby and pull up in front of her.

“After you told me to do that interview with her, she wanted to go here instead of some cafe.” Shiraishi adjusted her seating position, sighing to herself.

“Uh huh,” Eto nodded as she continued to listen, "Sounds reasonable if she wants to capture our team’s spirit and stuff like that."

“So…I offered her a ride, she says no, guess what–she says she’s going to drive in _her _car. A damn _Mini_ _Cooper_?! You'd think that she couldn't be able to keep up with me in an S2K.”

Eto clapped her hand as it all made sense now. It was unusual how the brunette’s mind was stuck on the reporter instead of their usual work at the shop, spacing out right when the others needed help.

“Hold on–she pulled a fast one on you?! Serves you right!" Eto snickers at the older woman who became furious again at the thought of the younger woman leaving her stupefied that day.

"What the hell was she even doing there, when she could be racing instead after all this time?"

Shiraishi wanted to pull out her hair then, Nishino had gotten her good. Real _good._

Eto leaned forward to face the latter, “Maiyan, things have been changing since you've left and came back. I’m glad that you’re starting to recognize that instead of living in your little bubble–we need you in top shape if you want us to conquer all of Japan.”

Shiraishi rubbed the side of her temples as she stared at the latter that went off to grab another cup of coffee for Matsumura before she’d get to work on testing their radiator.

“I really am grateful but there's nothing more annoying than this Nishino Nanase.”

"Huh, I'll let you know that we'll be racing against them in a few weeks. And Nishino Nanase will definitely be there as the dark horse."

Shiraishi clenched her fists tightly upon hearing that the younger girl would be there to race her.

_She'll be waiting for me to pass her._

"Looks like someone's fired up!" Eto chuckled to herself as she joined the rest of White High's mechanics working on improving and increasing their engine's turbo power at the same time.

-

Shiraishi glanced over Eto’s shoulder as she was showing her the RPM/revolutions per minute on the monitor in front of them. The weeks had gone by quickly as White High’s technicians had been doing nothing but experimenting with the limits of their turbocharger’s horsepower, careful not to overwork it nor miss out on the littlest details of its’ running state.

“We’re doing fine. A little more to go, then we’ll be ready for tomorrow.”

Shiraishi sighed as she grabbed the water bottle sitting on the counter, “It’s not enough. I know White High’s been working for countless days, months and years after I came back, but…I need to be able to draw everything out of–”

She walked to the engine that had been taken out of the car’s shell, “–this engine. I know that Rewind hasn’t been sitting around while I’ve been out these past years.”

Eto smiled as she patted Shiraishi on the back, “We know–and we haven’t been either, even after your temporary hiatus. We’ll be up all night to tweak everything to make sure that White High’s engine will work in the way that _you_ want it to.”

Shiraishi smiled as she clasped Eto on the shoulder, “Thanks Eto. I know that the team’s blood, sweat and tears won’t pay off till I win this damned thing.”

“You bet your ass, we’re going all out tomorrow–” Eto grinned as she raised her hand to make a finger gun to shoot straight ahead, out of their shop’s garage entrance where the view of Gunma’s mountains were spread out before their eyes.

“–with a bang.”

Shiraishi could only chuckle at the sight before turning away to focus on improving her concentration and focus towards tomorrow’s race.

“Nishino Nanase, eh. We’ll see who’s the better one.”

-

Shiraishi rolled up to White High’s racing tent with a loud screech, hoping that she’d be able to catch Nishino on the run.

Sadly, the younger girl was no where to be seen at Rewind Ano Hi’s side. She was about to look away when she saw Hashimoto approach her from a few feet away.

“Looking for someone, Shiraishi?” Hashimoto innocently smiled before the older girl gave her a confident grin.

“Huh, of course. I’m looking for the girl that you’re giving the reins to.”

Hashimoto sighed as she shook her head, “Seems like you’re finding out now. Nanase is our next generation’s ace, I even have high hopes for her.”

“Hashimoto. Why are you giving up now that I’m back?”

Shiraishi had recently heard of the news that Hashimoto was retiring from the racing world–she was planning to settle down and focus on working with the new generation of young racers who were being trained to lead the next wave of racing for the next few decades at most.

“I thought the timing was amusing when you came back just weeks ago,” Hashimoto shrugged as she picked up a paper cup and filled it with an energy drink before turning back to Shiraishi.

“I’m not running away, trust me. I’m not your rival, and neither have I always been–even in high school. You were always on the top in tests, and I would always follow behind. Your true rival is the one who’ll race against you today.”

“Bullshit!” Shiraishi tightly gripped onto the white towel that she had been using to wipe off her sweat with, “Why are you telling me this now?!”

Hashimoto only smiled to herself, “Because, like you–I loved Fukagawa too. But she’s not waiting for you any longer. You’re chasing after a shadow that doesn’t exist.”

“…” Shiraishi loosened her grip on the towel, letting her arms swing by her sides as she looked up at Hashimoto with a reformed mindset.

“You’re right." She cleared her throat-she couldn't afford to make any mistakes, for the sake of White High's future. "I'm going to win today, no matter what. I want to show how much I’ve grown after these years–not to just you, but Maimai too.”

“Now that’s the old Shiraishi Mai that I’ve known since our childhood days. Good luck.”

“Wishing good luck to your opponent? Funny,” Shiraishi snorted as she turned away to take her leave.

_Bring it on, Nishino Nanase. You’ve piqued my interest much more higher than I expected._

-

Nishino’s racing car, sported by the number 77, rolled up to Shiraishi on the starting line before getting out to shake hands with the older woman as it wasn’t time for the race to start just yet.

“We meet again,” Shiraishi smiled to her as she had shook her hand before retreating from her, “Nishino Nanase. Color me surprised.”

Nishino arched a brow as she tilted her head innocently, “You don’t look so surprised though. I suppose Hashimoto-san must have talked to you.”

The younger woman was fully aware of the past history between the two who were former schoolmates and friends, who turned their backs on each other after the death of their leader–with Hashimoto being the first to break away from White High.

“Hm,” Shiraishi only smiled back, “If I win against you, you must answer any question that I ask of you.”

Nishino only nodded then, “Try it then. If you can beat me, that is.”

“Don’t worry,” Shiraishi smirked as she looked at Nishino with a confident look, “If you beat me, then I’ll quit racing all in all.”

“What a loser,” Nishino said as she turned away, “It must be so easy for you to quit and come back as you like, after all.”

Shiraishi frowned at the younger girl’s shortsightedness, and diss. She couldn’t blame the younger woman after all–she had to admit that she was in the wrong after the competition–her post-racing adrenaline rush had overtaken her consciousness at that moment, landing her in hot waters. It wasn't new but some people were clearly dissatisfied and critical of her behavior whenever she spoke without thinking. 

“How cold. I’m aware that you’re not very fond of me in the first place anyways.”

“Funny, you were the one who shoved me a while back and even cursed–whatever happened to that rude person?” Nishino shot back with a hiss, “After Fukagawa-san’s death, all you’ve been doing is selfishly wallowing in your own little world when there’s everyone else who has to clean up after you.”

“Sounding like a real sweet considerate person there,” Shiraishi replied, slightly thrown off by the hard-headed attitude of the latter as she tried to keep up her calm demure facade towards Nishino.

“Are you aware that you can’t shoulder everything on your own sometimes?“

“Sounds like something a loser would say.” Nishino turned away to enter her car when the sound of people chanting and cheering, suddenly rose louder and louder, drowning out their voices.

“Own up to your past mistakes, _Shiraishi-san_.” Nishino gave her one last look as she put on her helmet.

“Can you do that? Or are you just a coward that’s just all talk?”

She went back into her race car that was sitting on standby, leaving Shiraishi to contemplate on what the younger woman had just said to her without a filter on her mouth.

_White High! Number One! White High!!!_

_Rewind! Rewind! Rewind!!!_

Shiraishi gritted her teeth then when she decided that she would have to do all it takes to get her questions answered. She knew now that she wasn’t facing the reporter Nishino Nanase, but Rewind Ano Hi’s _Nishino Nanase_.

“It’s on, little one.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's gonna be a fun ride from here


	2. Golden Child

At the sight of the green flag waving in the air–Shiraishi picks up her speed almost at once in sync with the other cars around her. Rumbling noises from her car’s engine rocks the car’s frame uneasily as she takes off, along with vibrations caused by her chassis.

_You haven’t failed me yet. Not once_, she thinks to the turbo engine that was comprised of not just multiple adjustments from years of tuning and hundreds of replacement parts, but the team’s spirit as well.

_I know you’ll make it here too._

Shiraishi tightly grips onto the steering wheel, immediately turning her focus onto the track curves and drifts ahead. She needed to mentally synchronize herself with the outside surroundings–the air, the car tires, the road itself–everything. It’s not the first time that she’s been at Mount Haruna, she couldn’t afford to make any mistakes here either.

_VRRRRROOOOOMMM!!!_

-

Nishino could see Shiraishi’s car tailing from afar, she needed to keep the gap at bay quickly. Her left hand pulled on the gearshift to loosen her throttle so that she could decrease the friction of her car for the upcoming turns in the race track.

Unfortunately, the car slid off course by a few inches from what she presumed was enough to keep her speed consistent, causing her to get side tracked momentarily before she turned her attention back to the road ahead.

The turn wasn’t as smooth as she assumed it would be–she needed to raise the suspension later when she noticed it was beginning to rain as well–the weather was unpredictable and could quickly change everyone’s current positions if they were careless for even a mere second.

As much as she wanted to beat out Shiraishi–her real goal at the moment was to prove herself as the rightful representative and successor of Rewind Ano Hi.

She always dreamed of getting into a top team–and now she had the opportunity to make herself a name first. Hashimoto carried high expectations for her–she needed to show her that she was capable of _anything _for the sake of the team’s future. Like Shiraishi–she too, owed the deceased Fukagawa something.

She clenched her jaw tightly, slightly irritated that her emotional dissatisfaction with Shiraishi had to be set aside for now. Right after another left turn, she shifted her foot to accelerate her car, increasing the speed on the mountain’s passes before she’d throw her steering wheel in a drift at a corner and push on forward to the rocky dirt roads ahead which would soon turn into mud–a huge hassle if she was any slower.

_I’m not losing here._

-

_VRRRRRRROOOOOOOMMMMM!_

Shiraishi was close enough to edge pass another race car–there were formidable teams this year. She couldn’t underestimate the no-name teams that she looked down on in the past now. As the rain was becoming a headache for some of the racers, it was inevitable that they would have to prepare for any unexpected road obstacles ahead.

_Thump. Thud._

The car rocked uncomfortably as Eto had predicted–the technician prepared ahead of time in case if the rain became a nuisance for the track’s surface later, measuring the air tire pressure and adjusting the coil springs for better performance.

The rain was already making its’ moves on the road, greatly forcing everyone into a cautious state as it started hailing harder. Her windshield could barely clear out the rainwater as she was zooming by the mountain pass–her mind slowly being filled with unease.

The brunette furrowed her brows as she looked up to see that another race car had managed to cut in to her position, dropping her from third place to fourth–she gripped her steering wheel tightly before deciding to accelerate right before another road curve on Mt. Haruna’s race track.

_Looks like I’m not the only one who’s grown after all._

The pre-rush of adrenaline had gradually built its way into her body’s adrenal glands as she managed to make a close shave in with the race car that was drifting at the same time as her.

However, she was forcing her way in that moment, grabbing the chance to flip their positions around with ease, pulling onto her clutch quickly and pressed the brakes hard before she’d pull away at another turn of the corner on the road.

_Piece of cake._

_-_

Nishino could feel the road’s rocky surface causing her vehicle to shake abnormally, the debris was ruining her tire’s grip on the ground. Her speed wasn’t the only thing that slowed down on the dirt mud, but her focus as well–she couldn’t see far enough to predict the approximate time to make a turn although she was prepared like the other drivers–the map of the entire rally course memorized in their minds and multiple test runs before the day of the race.

The sign of a yellow and red striped flag could be seen, indicating that the roads ahead were bound to be filled with debris and slippery. She couldn’t stop here now–she was in the lead, and she needed to keep it before Shiraishi could possibly overtake her.

-

Shiraishi managed to push up another position, landing in second place as she could see Nishino’s car ahead of her–she needed to get closer but it wouldn’t be easy from here, now that the ground was filled with dirt and mud, potential potholes and cracks could ruin their drifts and turns.

It was a complete danger zone from here–Shriaishi gripped onto the steering wheel before shifting her gear stick to throttle her engine, picking up speed to eventually catch up to Nishino. The thrill of catching up to her prey was rushing into her stream of adrenaline, raising her excitement as she edged closer.

_I’m gonna eat you alive._

-

Nishino could hear the sound of a car coming from behind her–there was no doubt that it was the brunette. She pressed onto her gas pedal, trying to shake off the older woman who was practically breathing onto her neck at that moment.

_Get off me!_

She squinted as Shiraishi’s car was gradually catching up to her–right by the rear side of her car, coming up on the road was a curve, to which she managed to force out the brunette by maneuvering her car and took up a large portion of the space on purpose, creating no gaps amidst of their drifting.

She thought she had managed to shake off the brunette and made her lag a bit but Shiraishi’s car was no where to be seen behind her.

“What the–?” _Where did her car go?!_

Her eyes averted to the other side of her rear mirror, realizing that Shiraishi was ahead of her–throwing her off and nearly broke her concentration for a moment.

-

Shiraishi saw through Nishino’s attempt to block her from picking up speed from the moment they needed to drift at one curve–she had to admit, the younger girl did her research along with Hashimoto’s help.

_Rookie mistake._

Drifting was one of Shiraishi’s specialty–she could do multiple styles of drifting, her favorite being hand braking, which she’d pull hard on the clutch right before it was the right time to turn the car into a drifting sequence, her foot pressing firmly on the brakes and turn the steering wheel in the opposite direction of the road curve.

But for her to pull up ahead of Nishino, she took advantage of the rocky debris and felt her car jump–out of instinct in mid-air, she steered her car into a drift, sliding against the pavement and sped past the younger girl right after she had straighten out her car.

Shiraishi smirked to herself as she could tell that the younger girl was stunned for a moment, before picking up her speed amidst of the unpredictable road course covered in dirt, slippery surfaces and potholes.

_Now that was fun._

Right then, she knew that she needed to pull up quickly and get to the finishing line as soon as possible–as much as she wanted to mess with the younger girl as pay back from earlier’s short interaction, she could tell that the grips of her rear tires were losing its elasticity.

The tires were completely worn out after the constant waves of drifting and runs over the debris earlier. It was time for her to put an end to it, aware that the weather’s condition was beginning to rear its’ ugly head towards a potentially suspended race.

-

Nishino could no longer see the road–her car barely managed to reach the checkered lane–but a red flag was now flown above their heads, signalling the race to a halt.

Shiraishi’s car was no where to be seen–she was sure that the brunette would beat her then, but she hadn’t encountered her on the course when she was trying to catch up to her.

Her mind was filled with regrets towards the team members of Rewind, especially Hashimoto when she was reaching the end of the rally race, that she didn’t even bother listening to the radio and shut it off. She couldn’t face them properly after having so much hope placed onto her.

She quickly pulled over to the side past the finishing line, realizing that she was the first to reach the line–everyone else seemed to be distracted despite her out of line and possibly random but now cancelled, win. She frowned upon seeing the emcee of the event standing from a far who didn’t bother announcing her arrival, instead their mind was somewhere else.

_What happened?_

She got out of her car and saw that Hashimoto wasn’t concerned about her, neither was the rest of her team, who were looking at a screen monitor on the back of a mobile truck from a far. The sound of the helicopter was slowly getting louder, approaching the rally camp when it suddenly passed by them and headed towards the direction of the rally course.

“Sorry Nishino-san, it seems like the car rally has been cancelled due to the unusable road conditions,” the informant of the race suddenly spoke as she stood there in the rain, removing her crash helmet.

“What?” Her head turned towards the monitor, slowing realizing what was going on–the familiar race car with the number 20, had sunken into the waters–presumably caused by the heavy mud debris on the roads. Her eyes widened as she could see a stain of crimson red on the windshield.

“Shiraishi-san’s car has…”

All she heard was white noise, her eyes locked onto the screen as the helicopter was attempting to get a closer look at the current scene of the car in the waters. The sound of an emergency ambulance, police sirens and vehicles honking, mixed with the trickling rain from a far started ringing in her ears instead.

It all made sense.

-

Shiraishi slowly opened her eyes to see that she was in the hospital. It didn’t take her long to realize that she had been eliminated from the rally race.

Her memories were hazy–but she could still remember the physical pain caused by her car screeching into a halt after one of her rear tires went gone–her car slammed hard against the road guard rails, creating a large dent on the barrier and left her car half-way to falling over a cliff.

There was no way her tires could push her back onto the road nor catch up on the rally race now–so instead of creating a potentially large collusion on the unsafe roads, she decided to let go of her foot on the throttle and let life make its’ way to take her up.

Back to the present, every part of her body was sore–she could see that her right arm was in a sling, her head and waist throbbing in pain, and her left foot in a cast. She was definitely in no state to be driving any time soon.

_Fuck me._

She tried to lift herself up, before noticing that Hashimoto and Eto were standing near the window, unaware that she had woken up.

“H-Hey–” She could barely call out to them as the two quickly whipped their heads around to see her struggling to sit up.

“Maiyan! You’re awake!”

Eto hurriedly walked over to Shiraishi’s side to adjust the bed and stuffed in some pillows to help the older woman feel comfortable. She quickly poured a glass of water for the latter who gave her a nod of gratitude as she couldn’t lift her free arm high enough to quench her dry throat.

The room was filled with flowers and banners from her sponsors and friends–with the way it surrounded her as she was in a coma, one would think she died.

“Looks like you’re out of luck this time,” Hashimoto scoffed as Shiraishi threw her a glare before looking at Eto, trying to get herself back into the loop with the racing competition at Mt. Haruna.

“How long have I been out?” She asked, knowing that she was out of the race for sure–it was frustrating but she couldn’t do anything about it in her current state.

“Over a week now.” Eto paused, before continuing. “Don’t worry about that–the car rally race is over now. It’s been cancelled as a precaution since a ton of people were enraged over what happened at Mount. Haruna.”

She didn’t say anything else as Hashimoto only kept her eyes on Shiraishi at that moment–it was obvious that she was disappointed at the sudden unforeseeable incident.

Shiraishi clenched her jaw tightly as she knew that White High was expecting a lot from her–but she let them down once again due to her rashness. She knew that she shouldn’t have pushed the car to its limit and basically ruined their chances at climbing the slope to the top again.

“Sorry–”

Just then, Takayama strolled in with Matsumura holding glum expressions, pretending to weep with their shoulders drooping down even though they could see that Shiraishi was wide awake now. The brunette rolled her eyes at the sight of them messing around instead of acting their age and show their real reactions.

“_Boohoo_…Maiyan’s dead…We’ve lost a great icon!” Takayama made a sobbing face–though no tears could be seen at all.

“No! Not Maiyan–what are we going to do now?!”

Matsumura then proceeded to bawl out, getting the attention of a nurse nearby as they hurried in to check on Shiraishi’s condition, finding out that brunette was wide awake now.

“Cut it out, you idiots!” Shiraishi was embarrassed as the nurse had let out a small chuckle before telling them to wait for the doctor to arrive.

Of course, Shiraishi didn’t want to hear anything from the doctor who walked in minutes afterwards–reading off his clipboard containing the brunette’s medical information.

“…Two fractured ribs...a sharp piece of glass punctured a non-vital spot luckily…broken arm…stiffness which we’ll put you in physical therapy…”

Words constantly rolled off his mouth as the brunette was no longer listening, her mind drifting off to what she was going to do now that she was prohibited from driving for some time.

-

Shiraishi spent countless days in the hospital, impatiently waiting for the green light for physical rehab from the doctor to come through. She was well enough to single-handedly roll a wheelchair around the hospital at the least, though Eto often scolded her for trying to do everything on her own without warning.

As she was still the _Shiraishi_ _Mai_ of White High, she was forced into signing autographs for all the little kids, some who weren’t patients either, running rampant and stirring up a headache in the hospital lobby_._

From time to time, she’d get her privacy intruded on by a reporter, who was immediately caught and dragged out by a security guard nearby. This hospital was trying to make her suffer a slow death by being confined inside–and she hated it.

_This fucking arm and foot can’t heal any faster._

She rolled her wheelchair towards the hospital’s exit–where she could relax in the garden. It was good to get out of the suffocating odor stemming from disinfectants and various chemicals.

From afar, the sound of an engine roaring had gotten her attention. She turned her head to see that it was coming from a red Mazda RX7 FD.

Shiraishi eyed the random guy’s suspension–his car was lowered close enough to the ground that even a mere rock or speed bump could cause damage to the underside of the vehicle and motor parts as well–the tires itself were even tilting slightly, revealing the downsides of shortening coil springs.

“His shit must be scraped up as hell…” She muttered to herself, slightly pissed off that she couldn’t do anything at all.

The brunette felt sorry for his FD as she could hear him bragging to his friend about his car with a twin turbocharger. They were the type of guys who claimed to be fans of drag race and sports car racing, yet was all talk when it came to actually putting their car to work and showcased poor drifting skills.

“You must be bored.”

Shiraishi recognized the familiar voice–reluctant to turn her head as she was stubborn to properly acknowledge the presence standing beside her.

“Aside from suffering, what else can I do?” She snarkily responded in annoyance to Hashimoto who crossed her arms in amusement.

“If you don’t know or Eto didn’t tell you yet–your entire car was kaput after you were pulled out of that nasty crash.”

Shiraishi pursed her lips, it was as she had feared–but it was inevitable, the car sinking into the waters alone would cause catastrophic damage to their car’s turbo charger overall–salvaging it was of no use now. She was aware that the team hadn’t mentioned a word, instead they were focused on her well being which was reasonably their highest priority after all.

“Yeah. I had a bad feeling about that.” She muttered, feeling her anger stirring up inside of her again.

“I fucking hate this. Fuck!”

Prohibited from driving for weeks, locked in a shell of a body that was broken and slow to heal, the loss of their modified turbocharger, a rally racing team whose spirit had been smashed into pieces–Shiraishi had every right to blow a fuse in that moment.

Hashimoto sighed as she knew how the brunette’s short temper was taking over her before clearing her throat.

“It’s possible that you can make it to the next rallying competition–with a replaced turbocharger, of course.”

“What?” Shiraishi furrowed her brows as she couldn’t understand where the shorter haired woman’s confidence was coming from. “We don’t have turbochargers that was as good as our, well–latest one.”

Hashimoto shook her head as she tapped her index finger against her temple.

“Think carefully. The one that White High has preserved for years, Fukagawa’s–”

Shiraishi quickly cut her off, as she was basically telling her to break White High’s sworn proclamation.

“You’re fucking nuts.”

The last thing she needs to do is revive a turbocharger that killed their former leader of White High. It’d be a big middle finger to their fans, reusing something that was a part of their history–their legacy when they were barely out of high school.

Shiraishi clenched her fist as Hashimoto was also a former member of White High, and soon for Rewind Ano Hi.

“You’re unsatisfied with yourself, after all–what else do you have to lose?”

Hashimoto was tempted to push her to the edge, “Will you have the members of White High stop their activities for your sake?”

The brunette sighed as she had no choice–either she’ll end the legacy of White High in complete shambles and labelled as incompetent by the media and fans, or rebound by pushing beyond the limits of her current being and those around her.

“By the way, you won’t have to use the _exact_ turbocharger. I have all of Fukagawa’s data and modifications from White High’s past turbochargers complied back at Rewind’s operations.”

Shiraishi felt her temper raise as she had just taken in what was said to her, never mind the turbo charger–but Fukagawa’s data?

“Did you…?”

Hashimoto shook her head, “Fukagawa gave them to me right before she passed away. I’ve never touched nor used any of her data for Rewind.”

“Then…did Maimai know that she would die?” Shiraishi quietly asked, though the answer would never be known to either of them.

Hashimoto handed a card to her instead, “Call me when you get out. I’m sure Eto hates my guts still so I’ll give you the information in person then.”

The brunette gave a small nod as she finally looked at Hashimoto in the eye–it had been years since they properly talked after her departure from White High, but their love for rallying was the same.

“Thanks, Nanamin.”

The duo who used to be coined as_ Kodoku Kyoudai of White High,_ were now saying their final goodbyes to their past together–without word.

-

Nishino never thought that she would be sending a get-well-soon gift to Shiraishi when she was in the hospital–every team leader and driver who participated in Mt. Haruna’s rally including Hashimoto, had already given their good hearted wishes for her well being. It had been over a month now–and she still hadn’t dropped by.

“Why do I need to do this…”

She mumbled to herself as she was standing by the door to Shiraishi’s hospital room, refusing to step a foot inside. A while ago, Hashimoto asked if everyone in Rewind Ano Hi had went–she was humiliated when she found herself being the only one that didn’t raise their hand.

Her hands gripped onto the handle of the fruit basket tightly, trying to calculate when was the perfect timing to enter Shiraishi’s room–which was _impossible_.

“Come on, Nanase.” She muttered to herself, “Just give her the fruit basket and leave. It’s not _that _hard.”

Little did she know, Shiraishi happened to recognize her by the side profile, and quietly rolled her wheelchair closer to her. She was wondering what Nishino was doing by her door, and figured that it would be a good idea to greet her after her car rally accident.

“What’s up?” Shiraishi suddenly said, causing the younger girl to nearly scream out upon recognizing her on sight and swung the fruit basket in her face.

“_Kyaah!_”

“Holy–” Shiraishi winced as the basket had missed her head by a few inches, some of the fruits flew out and rolled off in the distance before peering up at Nishino with a stunned look.

“–Are you trying to extend my stay in the hospital?!”

Nishino quickly shook her head as she ran to retrieve the fruits and dumped them back into the basket before scurrying back to Shiraishi and stowed the basket onto her lap.

Shiraishi could see that her face was completely flushed as she bowed her head.

“I-I–Get better soon. Bye!”

“Wait!” Shiraishi couldn’t keep up with the younger girl who was already gone like the wind after turning the corner in the hallway.

“…What the _hell _was that?”

She looked down at the fruit basket, and picked up one of the fruits before taking a closer look at it, noticing a minor dent on the side. Nishino gave her a visit despite her obvious dislike towards her–she was finding it amusing nonetheless.

“Whatever.”

-

The time quickly flew by after that incident, White High had yet to make their appearance back into the world of rallying, but they weren’t pressured nor in any rush to get back into shape. Rather–they weren’t on talking terms at the moment.

Shiraishi was finally able to walk on her own and her arm freed from a cast–it was almost pure ecstasy when she watched her cast get drilled into, wanting to throw the remnants of the cast out the window right after though Eto was quick to stop her from acting foolishly.

“C’mon! Let me–”

Eto struggled to stop Shiraishi’s arm from throwing the cast outside, “Hey! I’ll break your arm again if you keep this up!”

The threat was enough to stop the brunette at the least, though Eto knew that the latter was just too excited over her profound freedom.

The brunette made a call to Hashimoto as she was offered, and got into her S2K after weeks of being apart from it–she nearly cried in happiness, her arms spread out onto the hood.

“Thanks for looking after my baby girl,” Shiraishi smiled as Eto rolled her eyes at the sudden gratitude–the brunette was like a wild animal running on a rampage, she needed someone to tame her soon.

“No problem, drive safely.” Eto smiled back at her nonetheless, knowing that the brunette’s patient was being paid off now, finally free from the hospital’s grasps and deadly needles from their evil in disguised angelic nurses.

-

_“Well, that was faster than I thought,” _Hashimoto’s voice could be heard from Shiraishi’s phone as she was driving to Rewind Ano Hi’s operations.

“It can’t be helped if I’m set on facing your ace, Nishino again.” Shiraishi replied, making a turn on the road as Hashimoto had paused, as if she were thinking of something.

Shiraishi decided to continue on with their conversation, nonetheless–the atmosphere was still awkward between them.

“What are you doing at Rewind, anyways?”

_“Spring clean up. All the newbies are here, the vets are out in town.”_

“Sounds like fun,” Shiraishi sarcastically replied, “Why’s that?”

_“Part of the training process.”_

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, you germaphobe.”

-

Shiraishi got out of her S2K at once, before noticing a dachshund running up to greet her out of the blue.

She crouched down to give it a quick pat, reaching her hand out to read the name tag on its’ collar.

“Mugita. Nice to meet you,” she grinned, standing up almost at once when she noticed Hashimoto approaching her from a far, a folder in hand as she knew automatically what it was.

“Hey, Nanamin.” She greeted as Hashimoto was reluctant to call her by her nickname again.

She preferred if the brunette kept their relationship at a professional level, but knowing that the brunette simply wanted them to get along in the present, she decided that it was best to do it now. Fukagawa would scold her if she knew that she was still being uptight around the same-aged friend.

“Here Maiyan. I have it on an SSD too,” the shorter haired woman handed the drive and the folder to her, to which the latter quickly gave a nod of gratitude.

“Wow, I’ll feel like I drove here for nothing if we’re finished here.” A grin was etched on the side of her mouth as she swung her arm over Hashimoto’s shoulder, pulling her closer.

“Why don’t you give me a tour of your warehouse?”

Hashimoto palmed the side of her face, knowing that the brunette really just wanted to see what was going on in Rewind’s base.

“Fine. I’m not liable if you hurt yourself again somehow.”

“Shut up,” Shiraishi grunted as the shorter haired woman was cracking a joke at her being hospitalized for weeks.

-

Nishino had just finished cleaning off the radiator and started using a rag to wipe the grille of their car when she saw a few of her team mates fooling around instead of being productive–Saito Asuka and Ikuta Erika were the worst, spraying the hose all over the place.

She couldn’t understand what Hashimoto saw in the two–as they were running around, knocking over a container filled with used engine oil.

“Ikuta!” Nishino half-yelled as she was probably the only one properly cleaning up the base while their technicians were out.

Wakatsuki Yumi and Sakurai Reika–they were the team’s pillars and the geniuses behind Rewind’s engines, both technicians and skilled in calculating and maintaining the inputs and outputs of their turbos.

“Yes?” Ikuta turned to Nishino who was suddenly met with a spraying hose on her, soaking her from head to toe. “Oh sh–” Ikuta quickly turned to Saito who then shook her head and ran off.

Nishino was beyond pissed–here she was, drenched in water and stuck with two brats who wouldn’t clean up, possibly getting them all in deep trouble if Hashimoto was to see the mess they created in the warehouse.

“Look what you did–” Nishino sputtered, but there was nothing that could be said as Ikuta was now feeling sorry as she pushed the shorter haired girl towards the direction of the bathroom.

“Sorry, Nanase! We’ll clean up properly, so um–don’t tell Hashimoto-san!” Ikuta clasped her hands together as an apology, before the latter would give in with a sigh.

“Fine. Just clean up, please.”

Nishino shook her head in disbelief before quickly heading off to the showers–she needed to get back to work soon, as there was still many more things waiting to be cleaned up.

As Nishino stepped a foot into the shower tub, she made sure to remove her necklace carefully–it was something that was given to her years ago and carried around since then.

It was what pushed her into racing–it wasn’t the rush that she enjoyed from rallying, but to reach the top in the most humblest and modest way possible, like her idol–Fukagawa.

For now, she’ll enjoy the short shower. Just then, she heard a bark and saw her dachshund run in the shower, thrown off by his sudden appearance. She was about to shut the running waters and close the door on her dog when he suddenly jumped on top of the sink and grabbed the necklace off the counter.

“Mugita! No!”

The shorter haired girl quickly hopped out of the shower, internally screaming as Mugita was already out the door. She quickly grabbed a towel before wrapping it around her drenched body–now clamoring down the iron staircase as fast as she could.

The last thing she wanted was to lose the necklace that was given to her personally by Fukagawa–and she needed to find Mugita _fast_.

-

“There’s our little office,” Hashimoto pointed as Shiraishi nodded, they had been walking along the rows of shelved spare motor parts, some that seemed as if they were recently polished.

Shiraishi yawned as she could see that Rewind’s base didn’t seem much different from theirs–the only difference was the people running the team after all. And maybe the atmosphere–much more uptight and rigid in contrast to White High’s laid back and flexible ambiance.

“You must be tired though. Want me to get you something?” Hashimoto asked, as Shiraishi gave her a nod before pulling out a chair and sat down.

“Sure–I haven’t eaten anything but hospital food for days–I’m craving for a good steak!” Shiraishi grinned widely.

Hashimoto rolled her eyes as she turned to the brunette with a bottle of water, “This isn’t a restaurant! I’ll fix you a quick bite, give me a few minutes.”

“Alright.” Shiraishi watched as Hashimoto had left, before looking at her phone to see that her parents had sent her a congratulatory message on her discharge from the hospital. She scoffed, before hearing footsteps coming from the stairs nearby.

She could see Mugita running down from the second floor, now towards her with something sparkling in its mouth.

“What’s that you got there for me, boy?”

Shiraishi arched a brow as the dachshund happily wagged its’ tail, running up to her.

The brunette crouched down to give the dog a good scratch before she removed the object from its mouth, peering down to take a look at what it brought to her.

A necklace. The design triggered a brief moment of déjà vu as she tried to figure out where she may have recognized it from.

_Have I seen this somewhere?_

It looked oddly familiar, Shiraishi squinted her eyes as she noticed that the dachshund was running off again, trailing up to a figure who happened to come across her.

“Mugita–let_ go!_”

The familiar voice of Nishino could be heard–the brunette looked up to see that she was struggling with the dachshund who had been tugging at her towel and finally yanked it off.

A stark naked Nishino Nanase standing from a far.

Shiraishi blinked for a moment as she rubbed her eye for a second, seeing that the younger girl had made eye contact with her then.

“…Yeah, I think I’ve totally lost it now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> everybody gangsta till nanase flashes maiyan by accident


	3. 5 Years Later

Shiraishi swiftly dodges a water bottle thrown at her face, her eyes narrowing at the view of Nishino standing at the other end of the work table.

“You pervert!”

Nishino tries to reach for the other woman and give her a swift slap on the face, but misses as Shiraishi shifts around, their positions around the table switches yet_ again_.

“Whoa, whoa–hearing that come from an_ exhibitionist?!_”

Shiraishi edges around the table and watches as Nishino is climbing on the table–her towel lifting up slightly higher and she may have seen something that she shouldn’t have, when the younger girl finally gets her hands on her by the collar shirt.

“Oh sh–”

She hears Hashimoto’s footsteps approaching from upstairs, without thinking she grabbed Nishino by the wrist and dragged her under the staircase, covering her mouth.

“Maiyan?” Hashimoto’s voice can be heard right above them when Nishino bit hard on Shiraishi’s hand that was clasped against her mouth.

The brunette grunted in pain as she shot a glare at Nishino who suddenly used the back of her heel to kick her in the shin.

“Ouch–” Shiraishi yelped as Nishino had managed to break away from her grip, while the shadow of Hashimoto was hovering right above them–it was all or nothing then as Nishino kicked Shiraishi out from under the stairs, getting Hashimoto’s attention.

“What the hell are you doing under there?”

Shiraishi let out a nervous chuckle as she shot Nishino a death glare before replying to Hashimoto, “I dropped something under there.” Thank god for her quick thinking then.

“Oh?” Hashimoto believed her nonetheless, though it was a weird spot to be in, before handing her a tray that consisted of a couple of sandwiches and some salad.

“Here,” she gestured for the older woman to sit down at the work bench when Shiraishi quickly sat on the opposite side, Hashimoto sat down unknowingly with her back facing Nishino. The brunette made sure to keep her eye on the younger girl and nudged her head to the door nearby.

_Leave, dammit!_

“Nanamin. You have one hell of a rabid _animal _in your team.” Shiraishi muttered under her breath as the shorter haired woman furrowed her brows at the sudden out of place remark.

“Huh?”

“Nothing. Just talking to myself,” Shiraishi cleared her throat as she noticed Nishino standing nearby, hiding herself behind the wall and averted eye contact with her.

_What’s with this girl?!_

-

Nishino hurries back to finish up her cleaning duties with Ikuta and Saito–which they finally kept to their word to properly behave and complete the tasks that Hashimoto assigned them for the day.

Aside from being flustered at the sudden appearance of Shiraishi and accidentally flashing her–she wondered what the brunette was doing at Rewind’s base.

She picks up a towel hanging by a bucket filled with soap and starts getting back into work, trying not to get distracted by anything else as she was starting to slip up to Shiraishi too many times after their first encounter.

She internally groaned to herself, trying to keep her composure as Ikuta and Saito noticed how the older girl was mindlessly scrubbing away at an exhaust pipe roughly–possibly venting her anger on it.

_Why can’t things go my way for once?_

-

Shiraishi glanced at her watch, seeing that it was time for her to head back to White High, and get everyone together for preparations to the next car rally.

It wasn’t going to be easy from here, she knew as she dug into her pockets for her car keys before remembering that she still had Nishino’s necklace with her. She pulled it out and dangled it in front of the sun that began to set–the design was simple–two tiny rings interlocked with each other.

She was about to turn around and head back to the base when she decided against it–she’ll return it to the younger girl when she feels like it.

There was something that sparked her interest in the necklace, but frustratingly, she couldn’t figure it out.

_How did Nanamin meet this girl anyways?_

Shiraishi pocketed the necklace, thinking that she definitely needed to research Nishino’s upbringing and her background–and why her eyes always looked at her like she hated every fiber of her being.

-

Shiraishi parked her car and entered White High’s base, before unlocking the doors and flipped on the light switch.

The lights flickered as she walked in, seeing how some things hadn’t moved, a few other car parts were laid on the work table, possibly untouched for weeks. She sighed to herself, before pulling out her phone to text the rest of the team to gather around.

‘_We need to talk. Come to White High’s shop immediately._’

She typed out, before pressing the send button. She tossed the folder and SSD on the table, hesitating to open it before everyone else arrived.

There were so many things running in her mind at that moment–she never thought that she’d have to face her problems at once, but it was now or never.

She could hear the sound of an car engine roaring–a red Toyota MR2 Spyder approached the warehouse, pulling up a few feet away from her as she watched Eto step out of the MR2. It seemed as if Eto had been waiting for her call–seeing her familiar toolbox in hand, Shiraishi was sure that Eto was dying to tinker with something.

“Misa. Thanks for coming,” Shiraishi smiles as the technician had given her a fist bump then crossed her arms, noticing the folder on the table.

“What’s this?” Eto furrows her brows as she noticed the label–_Fukagawa’s Data. _Her eyes widened, completely sure that she wasn’t seeing things as she turned to Shiraishi with a bewildered expression on her face.

“Where did you get this from?” The tone in her voice sounded firm for a second, but Shiraishi could hear a subtle crack then.

“Nanamin.” Shiraishi paused, knowing that Eto wasn’t going to be happy hearing her name again, but she needed to come clean and be truthful about it, “She gave it to me today.”

“W-What?”

Eto picked up the folder, opening it to see that the notes were labeled on various turbochargers from the past, performance charts, pressure ratios, parameters lined up–numerical data that was detailed on its efficiency and rotational factors, she was sure that they’d never see the team’s past data again after a warehouse fire that happened before Fukagawa’s death.

“This…this is crazy.” Her eyes scanned the list, there were also handwritten notes scribbled in by Fukagawa, noting the tuning greatly depended on the drivers–who were Shiraishi and Hashimoto at the time.

“And she was holding onto this for the past few years?!”

“Yes,” Shiraishi turned around, before noticing a white Honda NSX approaching–Takayama and Matsumura were now here as well, as they caught up to the other two who had been waiting for them to arrive.

“So, what did you need to talk about?” Takayama arched a brow as she noticed how Eto was looking over a couple of papers behind Shiraishi at the work table.

“We’ve got to get back on track,” Shiraishi explained as Eto went upstairs to grab her laptop.

“And I’m gonna need you guys with me, so we can get back onto our feet.”

Shiraishi was asking them from the bottom of her heart–the car incident had left a scarring for the teammates then, but she no longer wanted it to be an obstacle for White High’s dreams. She needed to break those walls, and it meant that each of them needed to be prepared for whatever was waiting ahead for them.

Eto returned then, connecting the SSD and opened up a power technology software which simulated the turbocharger’s input, exhaust gas, turbine–sensing and mapping out the turbine’s temperature, output power according to the pressure and air consumption.

“Are we really doing this?”

Shiraishi threw her arms around Matsumura and Takayama’s shoulder, leaning down to see the numerical data and new software that was being unpacked out of the SSD.

“Yeah. We’re here to have a good time,” Shiraishi grinned as Takayama clasped her hands together and rubbed them, whereas Matsumura gave her a nod in approval, a wide grin etched on the side of her face then as she made a fist pump in the air.

“Fuck _yes!_ White High is finally back in action!”

-

Weeks and months had passed by after White High’s resolve to rebound from their loss, the team’s spirit running higher than ever.

The first time that they managed to put their car together after rigorous experimenting and test runs for their replaced turbo engine, tears of joy and happiness emerged along with cheering among White High. It was the first step to finally rebuilding their team’s car.

Amidst of the countless hours of restoration and mental preservation, Shiraishi went back to working on cultivating her driving skills, which she managed to snag a couple of advertisements and rack up some extra funds for their team’s high-maintenance fees. She was slowly seeing what may have went through Fukagawa’s mind as the current leader–their team needed to be united, and nothing to break their resolve to win the upcoming rally competition.

-

“Nanase,” Hashimoto called out as she had noticed that the younger girl was as relentless as ever, doing test runs on the course without taking breaks.

Nishino rolled down her car window, looking at the older woman as she was surprised that Hashimoto would ask for her.

Hashimoto only dropped by Rewind when she had time, as she was now working with an national racing association–she could hardly catch a break now that there were many eyes on her, and on Nishino as her successor.

Many people questioned her when she named Nishino out of the blue–catching a few headlines as Rewind was well-known as the best rallying team for the past few years after White High underwent drastic changes in leadership and management.

Hashimoto knew what she was doing then–causing many people to scratch their heads at the sudden appearance of this girl that appeared out of no where.

-

The first time that she noticed Nishino Nanase, was five years ago. Nishino was sixteen then–she didn’t know a lick of driving or what rallying even was.

White High had only started out then–Fukagawa, a freshman in college was already running the rounds with her older brother who was renown in the underground street racing scene. It wasn’t easy getting the support of her older brother who was worried about his younger sister getting into street racing–instead he turned her to a safer route that would ensure a career that was guaranteed in the long run–car rallying.

Hashimoto and Shiraishi began polishing their skills at the time despite being underage, being recruited into White High upon getting out of high school was a breeze. After witnessing Fukagawa and her older brother compete in the streets when they were in their rebellious phases, it managed to awaken a thrill in Shiraishi.

In the beginning, Hashimoto contemplated on joining, thinking that it would hinder her future. But after seeing Shiraishi dive right in without looking back–there was something that she could look forward to–she was now determined to take something from the brunette for once.

Shiraishi drove recklessly–she was confident in herself, winning various street races with her new S2K that was purchased with the money that she earned from gambling with others. She also lost some but by using her looks, she managed to climb to the top–who could resist such a fiery hot-tempered girl who wasn’t just some pretty face, but one that could leave you in the dust instantly?

Fukagawa was a mystery to some–but knowing how much her older brother influenced her as she was growing up, she wanted to prove herself to those around her–that racing wasn’t limited to one gender.

She knew how Shiraishi was the one who never held back, while Hashimoto was the opposite–it was easy to read the strong dynamic relationship between the two. It wasn’t easy for the duo to get along as they needed to work together as a team–but as the bridge between the two, she managed to make them compromise. She wanted to enlarge the world beyond her view–and become that core piece which connected from one life to another.

-

The first time that Fukagawa met Nishino, was in the middle of the night after a street race ended and White High went onto their separate ways–Fukagawa happened to drive across a bridge when she noticed someone standing on the edge, ready to jump off.

She quickly turned her car, a Subaru Impreza WRX STi, around and back to where she had caught a glimpse of someone standing on the concrete bridge barrier. She stepped a foot out of her car, and walked up to Nishino with her head held up high.

“What are you doing here?”

Fukagawa broke the silence as Nishino had turned her head to the side, seeing that it was the driver of the car that had just passed by.

There was a painful expression on her face then, but Nishino only shook her head, feeling the cold breeze of the wind pushing her towards the edge of the bridge.

“Do you think this world has always been fair?”

Nishino finally asked as Fukagawa stood there, a few feet away from her as she watched the younger girl–whom she didn’t know the name of yet, looking at her with a sorrowful emotion.

“No.” Fukagawa paused, seeing how Nishino was waiting for her to respond then, her hair flowing against the wind as it began blowing stronger. “It never has–you can only continue to live with that pain.”

“But why bother?” Nishino asked, as she turned around to Fukagawa with her back facing the bridge, which the river flowed beneath them–awaiting to swallow the younger girl whole.

“I can end it here–just one step, and my life’s goal will be completed.” Nishino suddenly said, as Fukagawa shook her head, slowly extending her hand.

“It’s not that easy,” the older girl softly spoke, seeing how Nishino was filled with nothing but hollowness in her eyes–she needed someone to talk to.

“I guess you can say that’s how life is beautiful–even at this moment. But we still continue to live nonetheless.”

“That doesn’t solve anything.”

Nishino watched as Fukagawa’s hand was reaching out to her–it would crumb her resolve to end her life, after living in misery for the past few months.

When someone taints you against your will–everything in your body, physically and mentally will feel as if it no longer belongs to you. You become empty–refusing to eat, your resolve to continue living is six feet under. Filled with nothing but contempt and a miserable life filled with despair as time continues as if nothing has happened, your pain becomes another past memory to another–forgotten and erased.

A lone tear rolled down her cheek then as Fukagawa had managed to take a hold of Nishino's hand tightly, and engulfed her into a tight hug.

“I just want to exist.”

-

The world in Nishino’s eyes began to grow as she found the older girl’s resolve to form a racing team, was admirable. Sure, she didn’t know much about racing but she could see the integrity and passion behind the crew members–it was what became the driving force of White High.

After her first time witnessing a rallying event hosted by Fukagawa, she could feel the presence of Hashimoto and Shiraishi as _Kodoku Kyoudai_, people cheering as the two had came in first and second at the road course of Mount Akagi, winning their second championship as White High. It struck her at once, that she wanted to become someone that also managed to bring forth a sense of unity and trust among people.

Fukagawa saw Nishino standing nearby White High’s station, gesturing her to come over to her.

“I see that you were able to make it here.” Fukagawa handed her a necklace to her, “Since you promised me that you’d show up, I want you to keep this for me. If you ever plan to become a rally racer or street racer, this can act as your good luck charm.”

Nishino nodded as she took in the necklace–it was something that she couldn’t forget as Fukagawa was always by her side when she called in. The older girl became her inspiration, striving to become a better person not for just anybody but for her own self–she was slowly beginning to have hope towards life again.

Hashimoto was the first to notice her, as she saw Fukagawa reaching out to Nishino at that time. There was something that drew her into the younger girl despite not knowing who she was, but she knew that the older woman must have seen something in her then.

-

Nishino took the news of Fukagawa’s death hard as she was learning the groundwork of street racing and rallying. She had posters of White High sprawled on her bedroom walls along with cut outs of headlines containing Fukagawa’s name. There was nothing but regrets towards the older woman about the things that she didn’t get to say before she passed away.

The White High that Fukagawa worked so hard on for those two years, had fallen apart due to a dispute between Shiraishi and Hashimoto–over the leadership position.

Shiraishi was short-tempered and quick to blow a fuse when the car didn’t move in the way she hoped it did–treating it as a disposable object. If she were to become the leader, it would mean the end of Fukagawa’s rule of impartiality in the team.

On the other hand, Hashimoto wanted to keep leading the team after Fukagawa’s death, but the disputes with Shiraishi’s dynamic personality didn’t help. Overwhelmed with the constant clashing with Shiraishi, it led her with no choice but to resign from White High–and start from scratch with Rewind Ano Hi.

Nishino could understand Hashimoto’s frustrations with Shiraishi–which led to their first proper encounter with each other after Fukagawa’s funeral. The older girl began teaching her from scratch and kept her out of the media for so long–purposely trying to prepare her against Shiraishi.

Was it revenge that she sought after against the brunette?

As Nishino stared at Hashimoto's side profile, she couldn’t tell what she was thinking and even now, she never showed any signs of it.

-

“What is it, Hashimoto-san?” Nishino looked at Hashimoto with furrowed brows, as the shorter haired woman gave her a small smile.

“Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?” Hashimoto asked, hiding the nervousness behind the mask that she managed to perfect after years of being sidelined by Shiraishi.

There was no doubt, Hashimoto liked Nishino for her pragmatic ways of thinking–they were similar in the way that they wanted a perfect rallying team that would dominate the scene.

Nishino gave a nod, as she could understand that Hashimoto was sincere with her at that very moment, despite not showing an ounce of her true feelings on her face.

“I would love to.”

-

Shiraishi dangled Nishino’s necklace above her face, while laying down on her bed. She had asked Eto, Takayama and Matsumura about the necklace, but none of them seemed to know anything about the necklace–they joined the team a few months after White High had started out. The original technicians at the time was Fukagawa and the street racing members from Fukagawa’s older brother.

_This necklace was worn by Fukagawa when we were starting out_, Shiraishi thought as she continued to look at it closely.

She knew that the necklace belonged to her and she was right–there was a photo from years ago, to which everyone in White High–Fukagawa, Shiraishi and Hashimoto were huddled together with their technicians, holding up their first trophy win. The necklace shone brightly on Fukagawa’s collarbone then.

But how did it connect to Nishino? Was there something she didn’t know that Fukagawa or Hashimoto was hiding from her?

She clenched her jaw, as she knew that Hashimoto could have given it to her or something–but it was Fukagawa’s necklace, the shorter haired woman wouldn’t dare to give away something that precious.

Nishino was clouded in nothing, but mystery.

_Who are you, really?_

-

A few weeks later, Shiraishi was expected to attend an event which would consist of their sponsors and various rallying teams. It was geared towards fundraising money to the upcoming rallying competition, hosted in multiple course tracks in Gunma.

Shiraishi arrived in her familiar yellow S2K, which the media started photographing her as she handed her keys over to the valet driver who hurried to move her car out of the way. She straightened up her blazer and waited for Eto who followed along, wearing a light purple long party dress.

“Let’s get going,” she offered her hand to Eto, before heading into the main floor, where Tchaikovsky’s_ Waltz of the Flowers _played.

Greeted by various sponsors, Shiraishi was already used to the media scene–they would ask her about mundane topics and she’d have to plaster on a fake smile before forcing out some half-baked laughter like a crooked politician.

She quickly turned away and made her way to the bar on the furthest side of the venue, asking for a whiskey on the rocks and sat down there while letting Eto do most of the socializing for her. It was probably for the best, as she wasn’t in any mood to talk to anyone but still needed to make an appearance to appease a few of their sponsors.

With her back hunched over, Hashimoto and Nishino had just passed by her unknowingly as she took a shot before looking at the bartender.

“Give me another one.”

-

Hashimoto furrowed her brows as she saw Eto wandering around, aware that Shiraishi must’ve been present as well–but she was no where to be found.

“What’s wrong, Hashimoto-san?” Nishino asked as the older woman looked at her with a quick smile, before they ventured off to a corner of the venue, right on the opposite side of the bar.

“Nothing. I thought I recognized someone.”

Nishino looked around as she turned her head back to Hashimoto, “Are you referring to Shiraishi-san?”

Hashimoto shook her head, though she knew that the younger girl was sharper than she thought–their ways of thinking similarly must have caught on with each other quickly.

“Would you like to eat something?” She switched the topic quickly and gestured the latter to a table where they were assigned to be seated at, as the host of the event was now calling out for people to sit down.

Of course, Shiraishi decided to venture off to the rooftop balcony, sitting on the couch with nothing but a bottle of whiskey swiped from the bartender, as some sponsors managed to catch her off-guard from the main dining event.

What kind of life did she want to lead?

She looked at the car lights and the street lights which flickered by, the surroundings of the balcony illuminated by glowing cube lights. What kind of person did Fukagawa want her to become? Why did Fukagawa chose both her and Hashimoto?

She laid down on a couch on the balcony and slowly closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep as her head spun in a spiral, unable to keep herself awake.

Were the choices that she made in vain for White High?

-

In the environment that Shiraishi was growing up in, she wasn’t used to the concept of sharing–it was either one or the other, first place or you’re no good, study or fail. With parents that were strict on her academics and her living lifestyle, she searched for an outlet to release her anger on.

Hashimoto had always been by her side but their relationship was at most, an unusual one. They attended the same schools and often battled it out on tests, but it always ended up with Shiraishi obliterating her. The two were certain that they weren’t friends–but more of rivals that were able to get along with each other.

“Try again, Hashimoto.” Shiraishi smirked, seeing that the shorter haired girl only rolled her eyes and walked away from her.

“Get back here!” Shiraishi grunted, unsatisfied with the response from Hashimoto who only gave her a small shrug. “What’s with that look?”

Fukagawa was quick to notice the brunette’s tendencies to lash out, and managed to come across her one day, inviting her to a street race that was to be held by her older brother.

“Why me?” Shiraishi asked, as she pointed to Hashimoto who was sitting next to her with her ears plugged in, listening to music and reading a novel. “And_ her?_”

Fukagawa smiled nonetheless, this would become the beginning of it all, with nothing to lose. Their relationship was much more grounded than it appeared to some, and beyond just a simple rivalry–it was a way of survival for the two.

“I’m sure you will both find street racing fascinating–think of it as something liberating you two from the world during the day.”

Shiraishi couldn’t understand it then, but Fukagawa saw the two as a reflection of each other–_the sun and the moon_. The potential behind their relationship was perfectly balanced–one that couldn’t function properly without the other. Since then she wanted them to join White High, no matter what.

-

Shiraishi’s eyes opened to see Hashimoto standing behind her, with her back facing her.

“Nanamin? What are you doing here?” She groaned as her head felt like it was being pounded into–she was at least sober somehow.

Hashimoto turned her head upon hearing the voice of the brunette coming from behind her, “Waiting for you.”

“Why?”

She shrugged her shoulders as Nishino was sitting besides her, looking over the brunette who was caught off guard by her sudden appearance.

“No reason. It’s time for us to leave, Nanase.” Hashimoto abruptly said, without looking back as Nishino gave a small nod, before turning to Shiraishi with a glare.

“Give me back my necklace.”

Shiraishi sighed as she rubbed the back of her head, before looking at Nishino with a cold stare.

“Too bad, I don’t have it with me. And not until you tell me why you have Fukagawa’s necklace.”

“So you noticed,” Nishino said as she turned away, “That’s for me to know and for you to find out.”

Shiraishi watched as the two left before noticing Eto standing from afar, who had just witnessed the brief interactions with the other two.

“I’m not sure what’s going on between you and them, but you’d better not lose to them.” Eto hissed as Shiraishi chuckled, getting onto her feet as she stretched her arms wide with a yawn.

A smile etched onto the side of her face then.

“I won’t.”

-

_Screeeeeeeeeeh–BLAM!_

“_Hey!_ Fukagawa–can you hear me?!”

The death of Fukagawa was the beginning of the downfall for White High–no one could expect the older woman to come out of a car crash unscathed, where the car had derailed, crashing into a large tree due to the loose lug nuts on the tires.

“I’m going–don’t fucking try to_ stop_ me!”

Shiraishi pried away from Eto and Hashimoto’s grasp on her shoulder and arms, refusing to stand around and do nothing. The news of the crash sent the entire crew of White High into a flurry of chaos–Fukagawa’s radio was pure static noise then.

_Bzzt…Bzzt–_

Shiraishi was the first to drive off to the scene despite the warnings from the emcee and informants–she refused to believe what she was seeing on the monitor displaying the car wreck.

Hashimoto wanted to follow along then, but knew that she wouldn’t be able to stomach the scene before her eyes, her head stuck in a trance as if the world had stopped spinning then.

The air that she breathed in became harder to take in–with her feet unable to stand still, she quickly dragged herself to a nearby chair and sat down, trying to grasp a sense of the reality then. Her heart felt as if a weight had been dropped on it, looking around to see that everything in her eyes were moving slowly, the time ticking on the clock had gradually slowed down then.

Upon arriving at the scene, Shiraishi immediately got out of her car, watching as the paramedics managed to retract Fukagawa’s limp body from the wreck. It was gruesome but she didn’t care, pushing aside the paramedics as she held onto Fukagawa’s torso. Her hands couldn’t stop trembling as she held her tightly in the arms–the blood on the older woman’s face was all she needed to see for her heart to scream out in pain.

_Noooooooooooooooooo!!!_

_-_

Shiraishi’s eyes opened, panting as she quickly sat up as the nightmare had appeared again–it was never ending for her. Her hands trembled as she reached for a night lamp and watched as the lights had flickered on before getting herself a glass of water.

She was still held up in the past, her thoughts of self-doubts rampantly filling up her mind as she clutched onto the glass tightly.

_Is it fine for me to continue?_

-

The day of the rallying competition had begun–fast approaching as Shiraishi and Nishino managed to beat out their competitors who were no match to their vigor and determination to meet each other again.

Shiraishi saw Nishino’s car pull up against hers, a sense of deja vu occurred again as the brunette knew that it was due to the last rally that was hosted months ago.

“I won’t lose,” Shiraishi said as she pulled out a familiar necklace that was dangling at her neck, “If I do, then this will go back to you.”

This necklace was the start of it all–linking the trio together against their will. Somehow, Shiraishi’s resolve slowly came together as she knew that Nishino approached her for a reason, and she was determined to make her tell the truth.

_I’ll make her tell me, even if I die trying again._

Nishino rolled her eyes then, turning away at the sight of Shiraishi’s arrogant tone again.

“We’ll see.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shirainanami got the oddest dynamic here ngl


End file.
